Livestock deaths continue to increase in Mongolia due to harsh winter
A family on their migration get covered in snow as they make their way through a blizzard with their herd of goats in February 2024.
The number of livestock deaths caused by the extreme wintry weather known as "dzud" has risen to 667,841 so far this winter in Mongolia, the National Emergency Management Agency said Monday.
Among the country's 21 provinces, eastern Sukhbaatar, Khentii, Dornod and Dornogovi, as well as Arkhangai in the central west, registered the highest rates of animal death, the agency said in a statement.
The dzud is a Mongolian term to describe a severely cold winter when a large number of livestock die because the ground is frozen or covered in snow. As Mongolia has seen much more snow than usual this winter, over 80 percent of its territory has so far been covered with snow up to 100 cm thick, said its weather monitoring agency.
One of the last surviving nomadic countries in the world, Mongolia has recently elevated its disaster preparedness to high alert due to the harsh winter and the livestock loss.
The Mongolian government has been helping suffering nomadic herders. A total of 20,000 tons of hay and fodder has been sent to dzud-affected provinces. Mongolian celebrities have also been hosting donation campaigns to help nomadic herders.
The promotion of livestock husbandry is seen as the most viable way to diversify the landlocked country's mining-dependent economy.
At the end of 2023, the number of livestock in Mongolia stood at 64.7 million, according to the National Statistics Office.
